Archive for Richard A. Wolfe

Last Days of the War Civil War Symposium – Saturday June 6, 2015, 10:00 a.m.The Davis Center, Potomac State College, Keyser, West Virginia.

As the days of the Southern Confederacy grew numbered, Rebel fighters scattered through the Potomac Highlands kept up their struggle against Union forces guarding the B&O Railroad. The symposium will focus on these often-overlooked military actions.

On March 4, 2014, Rick Wolfe presented “From the Burning of Chambersburg to the Battle of Moorefield” at the Tuesday evening lecture in the Archives and History Library in the Culture Center in Charleston.

In the summer of 1864, General Jubal Early moved his Confederate army down the Shenandoah Valley and east to threaten Washington, DC. His mission was to create confusion and draw Union soldiers and resources away from General Ulysses S. Grant’s campaign to destroy General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Early dispatched two cavalry brigades under the command of General John McCausland to burn Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Afterwards, Union cavalry under the command of William W. Averell pursued the town burners. They caught up with the Confederates in Hardy County, resulting in the Battle of Moorefield.

A native of Morgantown, Richard A. Wolfe spent 26 years in the Marine Corps, retiring as a major in 1998. Since then, he has worked in the information technology field with the Department of Justice and in December 2013 retired from Lockheed Martin. Wolfe has been a long-time student of the American Civil War, especially as it relates to West Virginia. He is associated with the Clarksburg and Morgantown Civil War Roundtables, is president of Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation, and is a volunteer on the Civil War Task Force for West Virginia’s Division of Tourism, which is responsible for West Virginia Civil War Trails. In June 2009, Wolfe was appointed by Governor Manchin to the West Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission. He is the author of a book in the Images of America series titled West Virginia in the Civil War.

West Virginia in the Civil War, a new book by Richard A. Wolfe, has been released by Arcadia Publishing.

West Virginia, “Child of the Storm,” was the only state formed as a result of the Civil War. The struggle between eastern and western Virginia over voting rights, taxation, and economic development can be traced back to the formation of the Republic. John Brown’s 1859 raid on the United States Arsenal at Harpers Ferry played a major role in the Civil War, which started in western Virginia with the destruction of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad property. When Virginia voted to secede and join the slave-holding Confederacy, the counties of western Virginia formed the pro-Union government known as the Restored Government of Virginia in Wheeling. West Virginia witnessed battles, engagements, and guerrilla actions during the four years of the Civil War. West Virginia in the Civil War chronicles the role West Virginians played in the Civil War through the use of vintage photographs.

An autographed book is available from the author for $23.00 postpaid. The book will be mailed in a padded reinforced envelope. Richard A. Wolfe, 38 Gregory Lane, Bridgeport, WV 26330. Email: ra_wolfe@msn.com.

On March 4, 2014, Rick Wolfe will present “From the Burning of Chambersburg to the Battle of Moorefield” at the Tuesday evening lecture in the Archives and History Library in the Culture Center in Charleston. The program will begin at 6:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

In the summer of 1864, General Jubal Early moved his Confederate army down the Shenandoah Valley and east to threaten Washington, DC. His mission was to create confusion and draw Union soldiers and resources away from General Ulysses S. Grant’s campaign to destroy General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Early dispatched two cavalry brigades under the command of General John McCausland to burn Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Afterwards, Union cavalry under the command of William W. Averell pursued the town burners. They caught up with the Confederates in Hardy County, resulting in the Battle of Moorefield.

A native of Morgantown, Richard A. Wolfe spent 26 years in the Marine Corps, retiring as a major in 1998. Since then, he has worked in the information technology field with the Department of Justice and in December 2013 retired from Lockheed Martin. Wolfe has been a long-time student of the American Civil War, especially as it relates to West Virginia. He is associated with the Clarksburg and Morgantown Civil War Roundtables, is president of Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation, and is a volunteer on the Civil War Task Force for West Virginia’s Division of Tourism, which is responsible for West Virginia Civil War Trails. In June 2009, Wolfe was appointed by Governor Manchin to the West Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission. He is the author of a book in the Images of America series titled West Virginia in the Civil War.

November 6, 2013, marked the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Droop Mountain. Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park Superintendent Michael Smith did a great job in organizing a wonderful ceremony to dedicate a new monument to the soldiers killed or died of wounds during the battle. Speakers included my good friends Terry Lowry, author of Last Sleep: The Battle of Droop Mountain, and Richard A. Wolfe, representing the West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. I had the honor of reading the names of the fallen soldiers of the West Virginia Mounted Infantry units.

The year 1863 and West Virginia are featured at the B&O Railroad Museum’s exhibit “The War came By Train,” a five-year exhibition of railroad equipment and artifacts that changes annually during the sesquicentennial.

West Virginia’s statehood — June 20, 1863 — is due in large part to the operations of the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad in what was western Virginia.

The B&O was involved in the Civil War from the beginning — the April 19, 1861, Baltimore Riot to April 21, 1865, when President Lincoln’s funeral train left from Baltimore for Springfield, Ill.

The exhibit is in the museum’s National Landmark Roundhouse. Many locomotives, including the largest collection of trains that actually saw service in the Civil War, are displayed.

Opening of the West Virginia exhibit at the B&O Railroad Museum. Richard A. Wolfe (center) of Bridgeport represented the West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission and also loaned artifacts for the exhibit.